SEC Excludes Stablecoins from Securities and Announces ‘Safe Harbor’

DAO governance platform Tally shut down "due to easing regulation in the U.S."

During the DC Blockchain Summit, Paul Atkins, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), introduced a new token taxonomy and an updated interpretation of investment contracts.

According to him, the agency aims to eliminate regulatory uncertainty. The new interpretation identifies four categories of assets that are not considered securities:

• digital commodities;
• digital collectibles;
• digital instruments;
• payment stablecoins (in accordance with the GENIUS Act).

The regulator clarified that only one class of assets falls under the relevant legislation — “digital securities.” This refers exclusively to tokenized versions of traditional financial instruments.

Crypto Asset Regulation Framework

Atkins also announced the development of a set of rules for Regulation Crypto Assets, which will create transparent legal ways for the industry to raise capital. 

The proposal, which the SEC will consider in the coming weeks, includes three key mechanisms:

1. Exemption for startups. A temporary measure (up to four years) for early-stage projects. Developers will be able to raise up to $5 million by providing basic disclosure (similar to a white paper).
2. Exemption for fundraising. Allows raising up to $75 million annually. Issuers will need to disclose financial condition and reporting.
3. “Safe harbor” for investment contracts. An asset will cease to be considered part of an investment contract once the issuer fulfills initial obligations and transfers control to the community (effectively achieving decentralization).

The SEC head noted that this initiative is based on ideas from Commissioner Hester Peirce, who proposed the Token Safe Harbor concept back in 2020. The rules will also align with bipartisan legislative initiatives in Congress and the provisions of the Clarity Act.

Atkins emphasized that the regulator’s goal is to restore trust in the safety of innovations in the U.S. The SEC and the CFTC plan to work together on implementing these standards.

The Flip Side of Liberalization

Amidst the easing regulatory climate, Tally, a governance platform for DAOs, announced its closure. The service operated for six years and served over 500 organizations, including Uniswap, Arbitrum, and ENS.

This is the end folks. https://t.co/EKzYo0qDWG

— Dennison (@DennisonBertram) March 17, 2026

Tally CEO Dennison Bertram told CoinDesk that the decision was due to changes in U.S. regulatory policy. According to him, the strict stance of former SEC head Gary Gensler forced projects to shift to decentralized governance to avoid having tokens classified as securities. Tally’s tools were part of this legal protection strategy.

With the arrival of a more lenient administration, regulatory pressure decreased, along with the demand for complex on-chain governance tools.

“The [U.S. President Donald] Trump administration makes it clear: ‘you have no problems, do what you want.’ This provides enormous freedom, but now it’s unclear whether decentralization is needed at all,” Bertram noted.

Other market participants confirm the trend. Earlier, Across Protocol co-founder Hart Lambur suggested dissolving the DAO. Decentralized structures were also abandoned by the exchange Jupiter and Yuga Labs.

An additional factor in the closure was the failure of the “infinite garden” hypothesis of L2 networks. Tally anticipated the emergence of thousands of new blockchains, but the market consolidated around a few major players. Additionally, Bertram noted an outflow of specialists into the artificial intelligence sector.

Back in January, the SEC clarified that tokenized securities are fully subject to federal legislation for traditional instruments.